Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Google Maps for Boaters - Updated

What Tide Is It?What Tide Is It? is a website that provides an array of useful information for anyone who spends time on the water. Not only can you quickly obtain tide charts from one of the several thousand tide stations, but you can also get, information about tide heights and times, sunrise and sunset times, moonrise and moonset times, as well as moon phase details.

To obtain information for any location the user selects the date for the first day of information they want to receive. They then select the number of days they want information for. Finally they enter the address of the location.

The selected location is then displayed on a Google Map with all the tide stations for the location marked in red. The tide, sunrise and moonrise data for the location is displayed next to the map.

Individual charts can be selected from a drop-down menu and the buoy map markers can be turned on or off. The map also comes with a router, which lets users trace a route on the map and get back the distance covered.

Chart ViewerChart Viewer is a very useful Google Maps mashup for American sailors. The site overlays National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration nautical charts on top of Google Maps. The mashup has maps for the North Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Alaska, the Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean.

The advantage of viewing the charts as overlays in Google Maps is that boaters can pan the charts and zoom in on any area.

OSTAR TrackerThe Original Single Handed Trans-Atlantic Race (OSTAR) is the world’s oldest solo ocean challenge. This year's race is already under way and each boat has been fitted with a tracker which means you can view the progress of each boat on a Google Map.

Each boat on the map is shown by a lettered map marker and details about each boat's progress is listed under the map. The details include the lat/long of the boat its speed and its current course.